


Your Broken Wings

by steggyisimmortal



Category: Agent Carter - Fandom, Captain America
Genre: F/M, Sousa is kind of a manservant, fuck that iceberg, very brief suicide mention, very loose titanic au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:31:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6991306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steggyisimmortal/pseuds/steggyisimmortal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peggy is an traveling to America for an arranged marriage on the ship of dreams when she meets Steve Rogers, a mysterious stranger who could save her life.  But is Steve hiding secrets of his own?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Broken Wings

**Author's Note:**

> This is an extremely loose Titanic AU. The closest ties it has to the movie is that they both take place on a ship. This fic is incomplete but I feel it can act as a oneshot. There is a 50/50 chance I'll continue it but I do have it planned out should I find my inspiration again.

It would be so easy to jump.

No one was around. No one would know. 

The noise from the propellers and the orchestra from the dining room were blending together in a cacophony of sounds that were growing distorted in Peggy’s mind. She could feel tears welling in her eyes. They weren’t from sadness, though. No, she’d refused to shed a tear since her mother came to her with the awful news. Peggy simply felt the overwhelming urge to weep to her heart’s content in hopes that her tears would somehow make everything disappear and let her world return to normal. 

Peggy refused to let her frustrations be known. Her mother wouldn’t hear them anyway. They simply fluttered in one ear and met an impassable wall. Peggy still remembers that awful day with startling clarity. 

After her father had passed away, the family’s social standing slowly began to falter. It didn’t bother Peggy but her mother hadn’t stopped fretting about it since the day they put the man in his grave.

Her mother’s solution was simple: Peggy was to marry Jack Thompson, one of the sons of a United States Senator. 

Never mind that Peggy had never met the man herself. Her own mother had only met Jack’s father once five years ago. Somehow the families had come to believe it was a brilliant idea. Jack needed a wife if he was to be chosen for senate in his father’s place and Peggy needed a husband of good standing to keep them living the lifestyle they were accustomed to. To restore the family’s good name and remove their debt.

To hell with their lifestyle, Peggy found herself screaming in her head to her mother. Her voiced concerns were of no relevance to her mother. Peggy could talk, scream, shout, cry until she turned blue in the face. Her pending marriage to Jack Thompson when they made landfall in America was as resolute as the Constitution.

Peggy would rather die than be handed over like she were nothing more than cattle, sold to the highest bidder.

Peggy laid one hand on the cold railing of the ship before following with her other. She leaned her torso over the rail to look at the water below. The night was dark but the water was darker. Even the churning waves from the propeller matched the blackness that surrounded her. 

No one would know.

“Shit! Fuck! Oh, son of a -” 

Peggy blinked hard at the continuing expletives coming from behind her. Her hands jolted off the rail as though she were touching a live wire. 

She turned to see who was invading her tumultuous corner of the ship.

She saw a tall man with dirty blonde hair kneeling on the ground gathering what looked like several sheets of paper. He was rubbing at his forehead with one hand. She couldn’t make out his appearance but she could hear him muttering to himself as he piled his papers into a leather case. 

Tentatively, she stepped towards him. She didn’t think him dangerous but her mind was still in a swirling fog. She didn’t want to let this intruder interrupt her self-pity. 

“Do you always use such language around a lady?”

The man looked up at her with an innocent expression. He glanced around behind him before lifting up to look around her as well. Perplexed, she followed his eyes but could see no one around them. The deck was empty this time of night. Most everyone in first class was still in the dining room or the smoking parlor. Those who didn’t wish to join the activities simply remained in their private rooms where no one would bother them. 

The stranger met her eyes in the night.

“I don’t see anyone around but you, miss.”

Peggy scoffed harshly. “Are you implying I’m not a lady?” she demanded to know. 

Peggy took a step back as the man brought himself to his feet. She tipped her head back to meet his eyes. They were kind, something she hardly encountered anymore. It was too dark to fully make out his features but she could see light stubble over a chiseled jaw. A few strands of hair feathered at his forehead and he lifted a hand to sweep them aside. He looked around her age and she detected a wide eyed innocence about him but with a wisdom she couldn’t fathom.

“Well, I thought to be a lady you had to have manners,” he replied. His voice was silky and deep but not too deep. Peggy could feel it reverberate in her ribcage. He gestured with open palms in front of him, indicating he was speaking about her. “I haven’t seen any manners. You didn’t even help me pick up my papers.”

Peggy gapped for a moment, too indignant to form words. “You dropped them yourself!” she near yelled at him. “It’s not as though I ran into you. I was nowhere near you!”

He smirked, a glimmer first, before that gave way to a full smile and Peggy knew she’d been played. Despite herself, she felt her body begin to relax. She hadn’t even noticed the tension that had been building up in her but somehow this stranger had made it dissipate. When he started to laugh, she found she couldn’t help but join him. 

“Are you all right?” she asked softly. She pointed to his forehead. “I noticed you were rubbing your head a moment ago.”

“Oh yeah.” His hand shot up to touch the spot in mention. His smirk returned. “I’m fine. Just forgot to watch where I was going for a minute. This bar here packs a mean wallop.”

He tapped a knuckle against the support bar in question. She smiled at his clumsiness. He had a friendly smile and a warm laugh that made her feel centered. 

“You seem like a hard-headed individual,” she teased with a coy smile. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

His mouth gapped with his cries of mock hurt. 

“Ouch!” His palm splayed across his heart to show her his pain. “You could at least tell me your name before you continue insulting me. That’s what a lady would do.”

Peggy pursed her lips in contemplation. There was something she liked about this man. He was captivating and charming. But those were two qualities of which she’d grown to become weary. 

“Margaret Carter.”

“Margaret Carter. That’s so formal.” He cleared his throat and lowered his voice. He held out his hand to her. “Steven Rogers.”

She chuckled alongside him and reached out to shake his hand. He surprised her by turning hers and placing a kiss on the back of it. She gasped lowly.

“My friends call me Steve, though,” he tacked on. 

He had yet to release her hand and Peggy was reluctant to remove hers from his strong grip. His hand was warm despite the frigid night air. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was thanking herself for choosing not to wear gloves to supper that night. 

“Peggy,” she responded to his hidden question softly. 

“Peggy,” he repeated, his voice sounding like a whisper. He graced her with a bright smile. “I like that.”

“I’m glad my name meets your approval.”

He exhaled a laugh. He tucked the leather case he was holding under an arm and shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. He appeared to be giving her the once over but his eyes never left hers. Peggy drew herself up straight, pushing her shoulders back and her chest out. Still, his eyes never left hers.

“Is the first class dinner that bad that you had to come out to my half of the deck?”

“I wasn’t aware you owned the ships decks. Forgive the intrusion.”

He half shrugged. 

“I suppose I’ll forgive you this time. Just this once. If you’ll take a walk with me.”

Peggy pretended to think it over. He seemed at ease with himself but it wasn’t the same brazen confidence she was used to being surrounded by every day. 

Steve began shrugging out of his coat. She took note of his strong build. It surprised her honestly. He seemed a bookish type. 

“You know, you should really have a coat. It’s freezing tonight.” 

He held it out for her and she gladly slipped her arms through the sleeves. She hadn’t even noticed she was shaking until she felt the warmth of the fabric around her. It was a nice quality material. 

He didn’t strike her as a first class passenger but neither did he seem to be a member of the third class. His appearance floated somewhere between the three, as though he could blend seamlessly among the crowds and never look out of place. 

“Thank you,” she murmured politely. “I seem to have forgotten my coat in my room. I just had to get away for a moment.”

“Well, I imagine it wasn’t the food.”

She felt his eyes on her but managed not to look over at him. His unasked question hung in the air but Peggy wasn’t one to confide in others easily. 

“Do you ever feel as though you have no control over your life?” she blurted out. “Like you’re a puppet on a string and everyone in the world is controlling your every move?”

Steve paused in his steps but she barely registered the move. Her pace was contemplative, her eyes glued to the boards of the deck. 

“I think life is something no one really has a complete grasp on,” Steve began gently. “It’s always changing and showing us different paths to take but it’s up to us to take the right ones.”

“And if there’s seemingly only one path?”

Steve shook his head. 

“No, there’s never just one path. Some paths may be blocked with an ogre or a wall. Or some paths may be hidden but they’re all there.”

“An ogre?” she repeated, glancing over at him with a raised brow and curious expression. He answered with a shrug. Her tongue made a ‘tsk’ noise and she turned her gaze to the ocean on her right. “Surely all paths are supposed to be shown with a, a brightly road with a sign saying ‘Pick this one. You can’t go wrong.’”

“I’m afraid that’s only a fairytale,” he said.

Peggy stopped just short of the flight of stairs. A heavy sigh took over her body. She turned to face Steve, her sad eyes meeting his. She noticed his piercing blue stare immediately. It was warm. Deep. Sympathetic. She was relieved not to see pity in his stare. Just questions. 

“Nothing is a fairytale,” she finally said, her voice resigned to a predetermined fate. “Just a nightmare wrapped in a sugar coating seen by people who wear rose colored lenses.”

Steve held her gaze but didn't say anything right away. 

Though she knew it was ridiculous, Peggy could swear the music from the restaurant grew softer as the world around her seemed to fade away to nothing. Her troubles seemed a little less when she was looking into his eyes. Her world felt lighter in the presence of his warmth. 

After what seemed an eternity of silence, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Peggy."

Peggy's shoulders jumped at the new voice. She turned her head towards the stairs to see a familiar figure standing there. Steve followed her lead.

"Mr. Sousa," she greeted formally, her tone cool. "Is something wrong?"

"Your mother is looking for you," Daniel Sousa informed her in his no nonsense voice. His tone made it clear she was coming back with him whether she wanted to or not. Peggy fought the urge to roll her eyes.

She turned back to Steve.

"Well, Mr. Rogers, it seems this is where I must leave you."

Steve caught her hand in his, gently pulling it out of his coat sleeve. He brought her hand up to his mouth and pressed a lingering kiss to the back of it.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Margaret Carter." 

A smile came to her face when he dropped his voice to say her name, teasing her sweetly.

"I suppose you’ll be wanting your coat back."

He pursed his lips in thought for half a moment. “It looks like it’s in good hands. You can return it to me tomorrow. Just follow the brightly colored road.”

Despite herself, and Daniel watching, Peggy couldn’t stop the large smile from taking over her face any more than she could have stopped breathing in that moment.

Aware of the keen stare Mr. Sousa had on them, Peggy reluctantly removed her hand from Steve's. She could feel his gaze on her as she climbed the steps but was determined not to look back. Not yet at least.

Mr. Sousa made to grab her elbow but she moved away in a skillful manner. His steps being larger, he fell ahead of her in stride. 

Gathering her courage, Peggy made a quick look behind her shoulder. She didn't bother to hide her smile when she saw Steve's blue eyes glued to her, smiling back at her.


End file.
